Wednesday, January 04, 2017
The Sky This Week - Thursday January 5 to Thursday January 12
The First Quarter Moon is Friday January 6. The Full Moon is Thursday January 12. Venus
is prominent in the
evening sky in the star poor regions of Aquarius, and is close to Neptune on the 12th. Mars is just above
Venus. Jupiter and the bright star Spica
are
close in the morning
skies with Saturn is low to the horizon below.
The First Quarter Moon is Friday January 6. The Full Moon is Thursday January 12. The Moon is at Perigee (closest to Earth) on the 10th.
Evening sky on Saturday January 7 looking west as seen from Adelaide
at
21:38 ACDST (60 minutes after sunset). Venus and (now dim) Mars form a
line with Neptune (visible in
binoculars and telescopes). Neptune
is closest to Venus on the 12th. The inset is a simulation of the telescopic view of Venus.
Similar views will be seen throughout Australia at the equivalent local time. (click to embiggen).
Venus is high in the dusk sky and intensely bright. It can be seen easily from somewhat before half an hour after sunset to two hours after sunset. It stays dazzlingly brilliant above the horizon in truly dark skies well into the evening. Venus has been mistaken for flares or landing aeroplanes it is so bright now.
Venus is in a very star poor field in Aquarius. On January 12 it is close to Neptune. The Full Moon, and the big difference in brightness between Venus and dim Neptune means that is close approach is really only visible in wide field telescope eye pieces. Venus is a distinct "half Moon" shape in telescopes.
Black and white binocular chart suitable for printing, showing a higher
power view of the area around Venus and Neptune on 12 January.
Use in conjunction with the sky chart above. The circle is the field of
view of 10x50 binoculars.
Click to embiggen and print. Similar
views will be seen throughout Australia.
Mars is in the western evening skies in Aquarius. Mars remains in a star poor area.
Mars was at opposition on May 22, and is still visibly dimming. While still brighter than any of the nearby stars, it is much faded and not immediately obvious, It is no longer a modest telescope object. Mars is visible most of the evening setting before midnight. In small telescopes Mars will be a visible, but tiny, gibbous disk, however you are unlikely to see its markings.
Morning sky on Saturday January 7
looking east as seen from
Adelaide at 5:05 ACDST (just an hour before sunrise). Jupiter is now
high above the horizon and is in dark skies well before dawn.
It is close to the bright star Spica. Similar views will be seen elsewhere in Australia at the equivalent
local time. (click
to embiggen).
Jupiter rises even higher into the morning skies this week. It is now well above the eastern horizon and is easy to see as the brightest object above the eastern horizon from around an hour and a half before sunrise. It is close to the bright star Spica, the brightest star in the constellation of Virgo. Jupiter is now high enough to be a good telescopic target, and the dance of its Moons is visible even in binoculars.
On the Morning of the 8th you can see the shadow of Europa cross the face of Jupiter from 2:00 am AEDST, and Eropa itself crosses from 3:50 am AEDST. On the 12th there is a dual transit of the shadows of Io and Europa staring at 4:48 amAEDST.
Morning sky on Saturday January 7
looking east as seen from
Adelaide at 5:30 ACDST (just 40 minutes before sunrise). Saturn is reasonably high above the horizon with Mercury just below it. Similar views will be seen elsewhere in Australia at the equivalent
local time. (click
to embiggen).
Saturn rises higher in the morning twilight this week. Saturn is now high enough above eastern horizon to see reasonably easily. It continues to climb into darker skies as the week progresses.
Mercury begins to climb out of the twilight this week. It is reasonably easy to see belwo Saturn before the start of civil twilight if you have a clear level eastern horizon by the weekend. By the end of the week rapidly brightening Mercury is moving towards Saturn and is higher above the horizon, making it much easier to see.
There are lots of interesting things in the sky to view with a telescope. If you don't have a telescope, now is a good time to visit one of your local astronomical societies open nights or the local planetariums.
Printable PDF maps of the Eastern sky at 10 pm AEST, Western sky at 10 pm AEST. For further details and more information on what's up in the sky, see Southern Skywatch.
Cloud cover predictions can be found at SkippySky.
Here is the near-real time satellite view of the clouds (day and night) http://satview.bom.gov.au/
The First Quarter Moon is Friday January 6. The Full Moon is Thursday January 12. The Moon is at Perigee (closest to Earth) on the 10th.
Similar views will be seen throughout Australia at the equivalent local time. (click to embiggen).
Venus is high in the dusk sky and intensely bright. It can be seen easily from somewhat before half an hour after sunset to two hours after sunset. It stays dazzlingly brilliant above the horizon in truly dark skies well into the evening. Venus has been mistaken for flares or landing aeroplanes it is so bright now.
Venus is in a very star poor field in Aquarius. On January 12 it is close to Neptune. The Full Moon, and the big difference in brightness between Venus and dim Neptune means that is close approach is really only visible in wide field telescope eye pieces. Venus is a distinct "half Moon" shape in telescopes.
Mars is in the western evening skies in Aquarius. Mars remains in a star poor area.
Mars was at opposition on May 22, and is still visibly dimming. While still brighter than any of the nearby stars, it is much faded and not immediately obvious, It is no longer a modest telescope object. Mars is visible most of the evening setting before midnight. In small telescopes Mars will be a visible, but tiny, gibbous disk, however you are unlikely to see its markings.
Morning sky on Saturday January 7
looking east as seen from
Adelaide at 5:05 ACDST (just an hour before sunrise). Jupiter is now
high above the horizon and is in dark skies well before dawn.
It is close to the bright star Spica. Similar views will be seen elsewhere in Australia at the equivalent
local time. (click
to embiggen).Jupiter rises even higher into the morning skies this week. It is now well above the eastern horizon and is easy to see as the brightest object above the eastern horizon from around an hour and a half before sunrise. It is close to the bright star Spica, the brightest star in the constellation of Virgo. Jupiter is now high enough to be a good telescopic target, and the dance of its Moons is visible even in binoculars.
On the Morning of the 8th you can see the shadow of Europa cross the face of Jupiter from 2:00 am AEDST, and Eropa itself crosses from 3:50 am AEDST. On the 12th there is a dual transit of the shadows of Io and Europa staring at 4:48 amAEDST.
Saturn rises higher in the morning twilight this week. Saturn is now high enough above eastern horizon to see reasonably easily. It continues to climb into darker skies as the week progresses.
Mercury begins to climb out of the twilight this week. It is reasonably easy to see belwo Saturn before the start of civil twilight if you have a clear level eastern horizon by the weekend. By the end of the week rapidly brightening Mercury is moving towards Saturn and is higher above the horizon, making it much easier to see.
There are lots of interesting things in the sky to view with a telescope. If you don't have a telescope, now is a good time to visit one of your local astronomical societies open nights or the local planetariums.
Printable PDF maps of the Eastern sky at 10 pm AEST, Western sky at 10 pm AEST. For further details and more information on what's up in the sky, see Southern Skywatch.
Cloud cover predictions can be found at SkippySky.
Here is the near-real time satellite view of the clouds (day and night) http://satview.bom.gov.au/
Labels: weekly sky
# posted by Ian Musgrave @ 12:49 pm 
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